15 July, 2009

The Deviosi dynasty are licking their wounds after failing to dominate the Six Islands. The only ray of sunshine in this encounter was that the threats of the Kushites proved vain. The victors were the Hyskos, villainous Asiatics, who proved more devious than any of the Deviosi. The speed of their victory gave clear evidence of their total lack of scruples.

Their most egregious act was to land on an island to which the Deviosi clearly held first nation status and to build over the foundations of a settlement the Deviosi had started. With the wood they looted from this lawless act they went on to construct an impressive navy that united their far-flung holdings. And though there’s no denying the quality of the ships they built, that changes not a bit the black-hearted scurvy dogs that crew them!

8 July, 2009

As our Settlers group approaches its fifth year of play it’s fitting to see the world returning to the way it should be, the way it was—Marcus Deviosus has been hailed Lord of Catan three times consecutively. He need no longer stand in shame before the funeral masks of his illustrious ancestors who ruled Catan for many long and glorious years—before the family fell on hard times, had to go into exile, dogged by accusations of electoral irregularities, nepotism and embezzlement. Fortunately the prudence of those former leaders had provided a healthy balance in their Swiss bank account with which to fight such scurrilous accusations.

This week, having steered Catan to greater prosperity with a project of building Cities and Settlements (four of each) in the previous week, Marcus opened a new era of trade with Transcatania.

The first trade route from Transcatania saw a period of unprecedented upheaval. The flood of inferior Transcatanian goods saw an outbreak of brigandage and destructive military responses to it. Marcus, keeping a level head, deployed two armies, purely in a defensive posture which helped restore order.

Later his careful placement of Settlements allowed him to build two cities, four roads, and four ships in a matter of a few turns (3 iron and 2 grain per ‘9’ and 4 wood and 4 brick per ’10’—and 3 9’s and 2 10’s pretty much one after the other) This saw the construction of two more cities (an underhand Transcatanian monopoly on iron could only delay, not prevent this). The ships opened up a trade route, allowing the importation of quality Catanian wares to the benighted Transcatanians. Add another unit of peacekeepers and all Catan was hailing Marcus’ glorious victory.

Having said that, the ignoble Transcatanians were close behind—Josh was on 11 with a sprawling network of mud tracks and leaky boats that laid claim to the most impressive communications network.